Newspapers & Dividends – “Susan On Money” for the Week of 11/9/2011

I just got subscription renewal notices to many of the print publications I receive and got to thinking about how useful they really are these days. How effective are the ads I’ve run for years? Let me know what you think.

~Susan

Newspapers & Dividends

The New York Times and the Arizona Republic still get delivered but I switched to the online version of the Wall Street Journal. I’m curious about how consumers choose which papers and their ads they actually want to hold versus the ones that seem more useful online. I”m sure the execs at Gannett Corp. spend alot of time trying to figure that out too.

In addition to thinking about dividends this week, I really want your feedback about my continued use of newspaper marketing. Does it pay dividends?

Now, let’s look at how dividend yields are calculated again. As the price of a stock fluctuates, so does the yield and I continue to see alot of confusion from investors on this.

As the price of a stock falls, the yield rises.
As the price of a stock rises, the yield falls.

Many people have owned certain stocks for a very long time. To ascertain your actual yield, it is important to do the math from time-to-time.

Prior to this most recent climb in the U.S. equity market valuations, much attention was being given to the very attractive dividend yields being paid by many U.S. companies to their common shareholders. As the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and the S&P 500 indices have risen again, many of these yields have fallen.

This does not necessarily make them less attractive but income investors must compare the current yield to that of less risky investments to decide if they are being fairly compensated for the risk they may be taking.

I monitor these yields and do these calculations regularly for my clients. If you have questions about dividend yields or real rate of return, please call.
Value

What is the value in print advertising these days? I would like your input. Many of you call when you see my ads or when I’m quoted in the business section. It feels good to be recognized in public and I have always liked designing the ads and working on the marketing.

I own a Kindle, a Nook, an iPad, an iPod, a MacBook Air, and an iPhone. I still like sitting down with a messy pile of paper sometimes.

If you do the same thing, let me know. I have to decide if I’m going to move the marketing 100% online or if value exists in print.

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